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2009-06-15

Wear Green for the People of Iran - My Big Preachy Speech

(This was first posted on my sister blog, Videogames of the Damned. The woman in this photo is Marcee, aka Marcela Arias Rubio, from Bogota, Colombia. She is my girlfriend and future wife. Steal this photo if you want.)

Listen, everybody. I've been blogging the Iranian crisis all weekend long, and believe me, the people are literally begging for our help. They are asking for the help of the world. And we are living in a global, internet-connected world. There is no here nor there. We are all together.

And don't give in to apathy for a single second! This is your greatest enemy. What happens in Iran affects you NOW. Where do you think your oil comes from? What does your car run on, grape juice? And let us not forget that the Tehran regime may be pursuing a nuclear bomb. Such an event would be catastrophic for the middle east and the world.

It might seem like all you can do are tiny gestures. But tiny gestures are all that is necessary. Thousands and millions of other people, joining together with you, will change the world. In fact, the tiny gestures are precisely what has changed the world. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat. Mahatma Ghandi turning the other cheek. Martin Luther King marching in the streets and professing his dream.

I have lived long enough to see the Berlin Wall fall, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even when that was happening 20 years ago, it seemed impossible. Nobody in the adult world believed such a thing was possible. But it took the younger generation to strike blows against that wall, stand on top, and topple it to rubble. The rest is history.

How many revolutions have we seen these past 20 years? Good heavens. South Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia...even Kurt Cobain and hip-hop caused a music revolution in 1991. These things are not only possible, they are inevitable. All that is needed is for you to play your part.

And the very first thing you can do is wear green. You're going to wear clothes anyway. So what's the problem? Wear some green. Then snap some photos. Then shoot some video and post it onto YouTube. Post everything on Facebook. You're doing this everyday already. So what's the deal? What are you changing? Nothing. Nothing, except this time there is a larger goal. And it will work.

If Keyboard Cat and Dancing Hamsters can catch on, so can this. Please play your part. And do it now. Thanks to everyone for their help, and good luck!

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